GrammarPhile Blog

• the president; George Washington, first president of the United States; President Ford; the presidency; presidential; the Taft administration; Chandrika Kumaratunga, president of Sri Lanka; President Kumaratunga or Mrs. Kumaratunga
• the vice president; Joseph Biden, vice president of the United States; Vice President Biden; vice-presidential duties; Jorge Quiroga, vice president of Bolivia; Vice President Quiroga
• the secretary of state; Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state; Secretary of State Clinton or Secretary Clinton
• the senator; the senator from West Virginia; Senator Robert C. Byrd; Senators Byrd and Trent; Sen. John Glenn, Democrat from Ohio (or D-OH)
• the representative; the congressman; the congresswoman; Henry Hyde, representative from Illinois or congressman from Illinois; Congressman Hyde or Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) or Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.); Maxine Waters, representative from California; Congresswoman Waters; the congresswoman or the representative; Representatives Hyde and Waters
• the Speaker; John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Speaker Boehner (Speaker is traditionally capitalized)
• the chief justice; [the late] William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the United States; Chief Justice Rehnquist
• the associate justice; Antonin Kennedy, associate justice; Justice Kennedy; Justices Kennedy and Thomas
• the chief judge; Henry Tonigan, chief judge; Judge Tonigan
• the ambassador; Philip Lader, ambassador to the Court of St. James's or ambassador to the United Kingdom; Ambassador Lader
• the governor; Ruth Ann Minner, governor of the state of Delaware; Governor Minner
• the mayor; Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago; Mayor Emanuel
• the state senator; Olga Parker, Ohio state senator; the Honorable Olga Parker
• the state representative (same pattern as state senator)
• the governor-general of Canada; the Right Honourable David Johnston
• the minister; Motohisa Furukawa, Japanese economics minister; Mr. Furukawa
• the prime minister; the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada; David Cameron, the British prime minister
• the premier (of a Canadian province); the Right Honourable Roy Romanow
• the member of Parliament (UK and Canada); Jane Doe, member of Parliament or, more commonly, Jane Doe, MP (not used as a title preceding the name); Jane Doe, the member for West Hamage
• the chief whip; Tony Yengeni, chief whip of the African National Congress; Yengini
• the foreign secretary (UK); the foreign minister (other nations); the British foreign secretary; the German foreign minister (not used as a title preceding the name)
• the chancellor; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Chancellor Merkel
• the chancellor of the exchequer (UK); George Osborne; Chancellor Osborne
• the Lord Privy Seal (UK; always capitalized)

• She has published widely in the history of religions.
• They have introduced a course in gender studies.
• He is majoring in comparative literature, and Janie is majoring in biology.
• She is pursuing graduate studies in philosophy of science.
  but
• Jones is chair of the Committee on Comparative Literature.

• I am signing up for Beginning Archaeology.
• A popular course this fall is Basic Manuscript Editing.
  but
• His ballroom dancing classes have failed to civilize him.

• This year's Robinson Memorial Lectures were devoted to the nursing profession. The first lecture, "How Nightingale Got Her Way," was a sellout.

• BA - Bachelor of Arts
• BFA - Bachelor of Fine Arts
• BM - Bachelor of Music
• BS - Bachelor of Science
• DD - Doctor of Divinity
• DDS - Doctor of Dental Surgery
• DMin (D.Min.) - Doctor of Ministry
• DVM - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
• EdD - Doctor of Education
• JD - Juris Doctor (Doctor of Law)
• LittD (Litt.D.) - Litterarum Doctor (Doctor of Letters)
• MA - Master of Arts
• MBA - Master of Business Administration
• MD - Medicinae Doctor (Doctor of Medicine)
• MS - Master of Science
• MSN - Master of Science in Nursing
• MSW - Master of Social Welfare or Master of Social Work
• PhD (Ph.D.) - Philosophiae Doctor (Doctor of Philosophy)

• Mortimer Snerd, JD, attended Wooden Memorial Law School.

Source: The Chicago Manual of Style.

Two unrelated topics today:

Drunk driving v. drink-driving.
Did you know that what goes for drunk driving in America is known as drink-driving in Britain? That's right - so be careful when editing We need harsher drink-driving penalties for MPs. If it's British, it's correct.

Many of us often confuse these tropes (a trope is a word or expression used in a figurative sense). Here's an explanation of all three, along with examples.

It's happened. You're in a five-way conversation and somebody pipes up with something like "Yeah, it's a Catch-22. You just can't get a job if you don't live in Florida." Trouble is, you know it's not a Catch-22, that the guy's blowing smoke, but you can't quite remember precisely what a Catch-22 is. So you keep quiet and everybody goes along. Well, study up and next time be the one in your cube-farm who doesn't mangle these common expressions. Read on!

When it comes to numbers, you may know that our standard style book, the Chicago Manual of Style, calls for spelling out whole numbers from one through one hundred. The Associated Press Stylebook calls for spelling out whole numbers only up to nine. Here are some more rules about numbers in your text.

You've been there, at some chic party, when the pompous oaf next to you says something like this: "My wife's such a delightful party guest--well-dressed, polite, and always ready with a bon mot." A what? Well, you don't want to look ignorant, so you smile and try to appear as though you know precisely what the fellow meant. And so does everyone else, even though they're probably wondering too! Read on, and this weekend it will be you impressing your friends with some very cool words.

JOIE DE VIVRE (jwa dih VEE-vruh) FRENCH
Definition: A hearty enjoyment of life. Literally, "joy of living."
Usage: Granny has real joie de vivre. She drives a convertible, listens to Caspian, and still skis the slalom course at fifteen off with the best of them.

PERSONA NON GRATA (purr-SOH-nuh nahn GRAH-tuh) LATIN
Definition: Unacceptable or unwelcome.
Usage: Billy has been persona non grata around our house ever since he knocked a baseball through our dining-room window.

FAUX PAS (foe pah) FRENCH
Definition: A social blunder. Usage: Criticizing the boss's daughter was just her first faux pas on the new job.

MENSCH (mentsh) YIDDISH
Definition: A person of honor and integrity; a decent, upright person.
Usage: His grandfather always used to tell him, "Comb your hair, straighten your tie, look people in the eye, be a mensch."

ENFANT TERRIBLE (on-fon teh-REE-bleh) FRENCH
Definition: A difficult child; an unconventional or outspoken person whose behavior dismays or embarrasses others.
Usage: In the author's opinion, John McEnroe, the enfant terrible of the eighties, single-handedly ruined the sport of tennis in America.

We often find mismatched subjects and verbs in even the most smartly edited client documents. But that's why we're here! Check out this week's post on the subject.

Authoritative style guide books contain pages and pages of notes on titles of works. Do you know that headlines, titles, and subtitles in proposals, white papers, and brochures are the most common spots for typos? And they are also hotspots for innocent errors (errors you look at and don't realize are errors) as well, mostly in capitalization and hyphenation. This week we're covering classic headline style.

A word with several meanings is polysemous. One of the more interesting forms is the Janus word, also sometimes called an autoantonym or a contranym, in which two of the meanings of the word are opposites of each other. A Janus word is so named for Janus, a Roman god that is identified with doors, gates, and all beginnings and that is depicted with two opposite faces.